


Worse Case Scenario

by nonky



Category: Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Super Mysteries - Franklin W. Dixon & Carolyn Keene
Genre: F/M, Future Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 00:27:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29444814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nonky/pseuds/nonky
Summary: They should have split off to different offices, or put a limit on how much time they worked across facing desks each day. Nancy felt the old draw of their partiality build like high tide rising over their feet. There were long looks over longer lunch breaks. She made sure to go home right on time, and tried not to talk about what was becoming her dream job.
Relationships: Nancy Drew/Frank Hardy, Nancy Drew/Ned Nickerson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	Worse Case Scenario

They’d never really gotten together, much to the disappointed hopes of Bess and Joe. Of course those two had their moments as well, with no real romance forming. Nancy and Frank had been tactful enough not to make wagers on how many kids they would go on to have. 

She married Ned. It wasn’t a hard decision. He had stuck with her through college and he was supportive of her career plans. Nancy had decided she wasn’t cut out to be part of a law enforcement outfit. She worked for a few different investigative firms and saved money to open her own. 

Frank and Joe went their own way, their work worthy but secret. After a while they returned to the U.S. for good, with military commendations and references from some important people. They had better connections to set up their business near D.C., and Nancy was ready with her investment to join them. 

They started modestly and did well. The demoralizing cases of catching cheating spouses were balanced by the bigger cases where lives were saved. Joe got his thrills doing moonlighting at a security company protecting VIPs. Frank was the de facto manager. Nancy dug into the details of every case, practically memorizing them during her long days. 

She had the longest commute home back to her house with Ned. Frank and Joe were both single and able to pick their apartments to be nearby. They eventually renovated an oddly shaped break room into a studio apartment. The kitchen made their coffee and it was a more comfortable space to stay overnight while monitoring surveillance. The closet had a few emergency outfits for them. 

Joe liked music or the television playing while he worked. Frank and Nancy preferred silence. They set up in the larger of two offices, and gave Joe the smaller to ‘practice his method’ at his chosen volume. 

They were like family. Holidays were expected invitations and Ned knew their trip home for Christmas was four days at most. Nancy wasn’t sure about kids yet, and he was trying not to push. He was putting in extra time at the insurance company saving for the day she said yes to a baby. They were only in their twenties, and he knew she had a lot of dreams pinned on working for herself.

The balance of work, friendship and marriage held until Joe fell in love. He met a former Navy lawyer named Maddie at his security job. His attempt to win her over had him leaving early and skipping team meetings. A year later they were engaged and planning a rather expensive wedding. Joe was making the bulk of his money doing security jobs. To help his brother, Frank suggested a sabbatical from investigations. He and Nancy would keep the business going with a few part time helpers. 

They should have split off to different offices, or put a limit on how much time they worked across facing desks each day. Nancy felt the old draw of their partiality build like high tide rising over their feet. There were long looks over longer lunch breaks. She made sure to go home right on time, and tried not to talk about what was becoming her dream job.

Frank noted her efforts to be faithful. He pulled away as often as she did when they were veering to a spin. He smiled sweetly and looked at his watch, getting them both a clean getaway.

They held out months, through Ned’s business trips and the nights they had to work overtime to watch security footage live. They resisted the attraction on her birthday when he handed her a jewelry box with a pen that had more diamonds than most bracelets. Nancy went home to her birthday dinner with her husband and in-laws, and a gift of a puppy she didn’t have time to train.

She felt more like herself at work. Being a wife was whatever she wanted it to mean, but it took time and patience. She knew how to cook and clean but didn’t love her house the way she knew she should. It was her little world with Ned, and she had just enough attention to buy a new set of pillows for the sofa or replace things that wore out. Her alternating weekends off dragged by Sunday night. She regretted her own rule about not bringing files home or having an office there. 

It made her so happy to see Frank on Monday morning. They barely needed to speak to know how to do their jobs. It left more time for personal conversations. They started playing music in their big office, and Nancy found herself singing along to bits of the love songs while he smiled at her fondly. 

They got a call from Joe’s phone at the end of a Wednesday, but no one spoke on the other end. Frank called back and got nothing. He pinged the phone and got a location on the highway. 

“Fifty says his new used motorcycle crapped out on him and he needs me to come get him in the van,” Frank said ruefully. “He had the money for a new one.”

“I think the motorcycle is his project while Maddie gets to make all the wedding decisions,” Nancy replied. “Go get him. It’s supposed to rain. His hair is going to be ruined.”

Their laughter was light and neither of them was worried. Joe was an adventurous person and he had a lot of experience in moderate trouble. He would pull off to the shoulder, huddle in his leather jacket and wait to be picked up. The worst he’d be would be starving for a burger.

The reality was heartbreaking. Joe had skidded out on a slippery turn. He had been able to call a few numbers but not to speak. Luckily the second attempt had been to 911. Frank arrived to see a police car diverting traffic around the tow truck loading the motorcycle. He drove to the hospital and didn’t leave until his brother survived two surgeries and woke up. 

The Hardy family didn’t need another person sitting in the hospital hallway. Nancy did her best with the investigations she could safely work alone. She called Ned and let him know she wanted to be nearby for the crisis. As always, he understood. 

Nancy never found out why Frank had left the hospital and gone back to work. He walked in late, his face pale and scratchy with stubble. His mother had found him some of his father’s clothes because the sweater was too short. And he sniffled and slumped when he saw her at the desk. 

She was up and holding him instantly. “Frank, did something happen? Joe?”

They were both crying, his hands planted in the small of her back as he gasped. Frank shook his head and cleared his throat until he could tell her, “No, he’s okay. He’ll be okay. He was really lucky. They said it was a close call. I nearly lost my brother.”

It was shattering to think of all the times in the past they willingly went into danger and have the most dire moment a regular day with a stupid accident. It was too random to bear. 

“He’ll get better. It’s okay. You’re going to be okay, too.”

He was taller than her and could pick her up under one arm, but he felt terribly young. Nancy cupped his face and kissed his forehead. Frank moaned like he was dying, and his arms around her wrapped to their full embrace. She was up on her toes sealed to him, both of them shuddering with want. 

“No, I won’t,” he whispered.

She hated his pain and the way it vibrated through his chest like they were their own earthquake. Nancy just wanted him to feel better. Her lips touched his nose and his cheek, falling away as he lifted his head to meet her eyes. 

Her hair was loose, and he caught the ends with a fingertip. The pull of it was a tingle of pleasure fighting off the agony of the week. She broke into his hands and he caught every piece of her. They were kissing wildly as they stumbled to the bed, the whole disaster happening as quickly as a blink. One moment was a stunning descent into madness, and the next was the two of them stripped and poised to ruin everything from before. 

It was an inferno, and no one asked permission or said anything about love. They rolled around desperately, delving fingers in hollow spaces and finding pooled heat. Frank gripped her hands and brought them up behind his neck. He bit the softness of her arm and ground his jaw across her breast. 

It was so natural on the next rocking twist up to him to drop back with her knees hitched around his hips. Frank hissed an exhale and moved the vital distance to penetrate. He looked into her face and Nancy felt it in her soul. 

The intimacy was drugging, layering over the guilt and reluctance that had failed them. She whined for him to thrust, shaking him from the momentary shock of finally being inside her. All she could do was cling to him with every part of herself. Kissing eased some of the utter emptiness of knowing they couldn’t keep going like this forever. She raked her fingers up into his hair. He wouldn’t get rough. 

Frank fucked her like they were both virgins. He had a hand cupped behind her head and another petting lightly across her ribs. He pushed in without putting his weight on her. It was maddening. 

She was a void shaped like him, and he needed to help her. It might be this one time so it had to last. He was so hot and perfect if he could stop holding back. She jerked her mouth away. 

“Don’t you want me like I’ve wanted you? I need everything,” she whispered. 

He shifted and let her go, pushing up away from her. Terror flew through her until he shoved his cock into her with a stark expression. Frank dropped his elbows and they were fused. Her arms could only reach the tops of his shoulders but his hands roamed everywhere with kneading grabs. 

She shut her eyes and let the movement sear anyone else from her thoughts. She and Frank were the world. Colours and furls of shapes without names played behind her eyelids and she felt her body tighten impossibly. They were kissing again, probing anywhere they could. There was a feeling stretching her sanity, at least twice as broad as the span of his shoulders under her grasp.

Sensations were a rush of confusion, racing along their heartbeats. Frank lifted her ass and she braced for the orgasm about to crash down. It hit with an exhausting reverberation, wrapped her pleasure up in Frank’s as he threw his head back. 

Nancy was dizzy lying down, shuddering until he pulled out with a stunned silence. She let him spoon behind her and pull the blanket across her body. They dozed, psyches burnt out and bodies going slack.

She woke to a lazy massage across her collarbone. Her neck, legs and back were sore. Her body had memorized the feel of Frank inside her. Her hand drifted back towards him and he caught it to kiss her fingertip.

“I think I just destroyed my life,” she said faintly.

Frank exhaled on her wrist, brushing his palm along her belly. “I’m sorry.”

Nancy shook her head and didn’t say what she thought. Maybe she wasn’t sorry, and she didn’t want him apologizing for anything.

“I’m going to need to sleep here tonight,” she said. “And for a while once I go get my stuff packed.”

His breathing hitched and he laid her hand gently down. “I can’t ask you to leave him. If this has to be this one night, I would do my best never to let on anything had happened. People who’ve known us all along seem to assume I’m in love with you but I won’t act on it. Just let them believe it.”

She stared at their clothing thrown across the floor, envying the way her shirt sleeve had tangled on his pant leg. She wanted to cling to him, and demand he hold her to him. Nancy didn’t want a soft, romantic request. She wanted Frank to claim her, and keep her honest. 

“Ned gave me the puppy as training wheels for a baby. He made it a point to have a late day at the office each week so I could get used to having to rush home before it shits on everything,” she told him. “I said I would think about it. But I don’t want his baby. I can’t say I ever would. If you and I were nothing at all, I still need to let him go to find someone who wants to make him a father.”

Their pained silence closed in like a fog, and she pushed back to him so he put his arms around her. 

“Nancy? Should I have, I don’t know . . . I could have tried to stop you marrying him.”

“No, you didn’t do anything wrong. Ned has been good to me. I wanted to do it. But he can’t be everything to me, and if he had to try I’d be disappointed. Losing a year of my life to be home with a baby, and only Ned for adult company sounds awful. It is time to admit I’ve been getting most of my emotional needs met here at work. Charging my batteries so I could tolerate going back to play house.”

It was embarrassing to cry, even when Frank pressed his face to her cheek and exhaled on a sob. He knew when she struggled, and she didn’t even mind being that transparent for him.

“I’m sorry you were lonely,” he said gruffly. “I should have been braver.”

“You were wonderful. You’re kind,” she said. “You were respectful of my decisions. I was just wrong about forever.”

There was too much to tackle, and so few hours before daylight pushed for actions. Joe’s recovery would be a family affair, and Nancy knew she couldn’t pretend another day of being happily married. It was a chaotic moment in their lives to be making promises. They had years of carefully avoided near misses to talk about, and the future was a very big space to fill.

Frank took her hand and covered it, hiding the ring on her third finger. It wasn’t right to run straight from Ned to him. She needed to make a fresh start for herself before promising to spend her life with anyone. Falling into bed never solved any real problems. 

“We’re all going to be okay,” he said. “And once we get Joe patched up and married off, maybe I can take you to dinner?”

It was absurd to take comfort from Frank after the week he’d just weathered. She was reassured anyway. He had never let her down. 

“Dinner sounds like a wonderful beginning,” she said.


End file.
